Animals, such as dogs and cats occasionally suffer injuries to their legs and paws that require orthopedic or other corrective surgery. Additionally, these animals may also suffer cuts and scrapes to their legs and paws as they walk through brush or in uneven paved areas. Veterinary assistance for these injuries can cost in the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
Typically, after the animal's wound is attended to, the wound is bandaged and/or splinted to aid in recovery and/or to prevent dirt and debris from getting into the wound and possibly causing an infection. The bandages, casts, splints, or other devices utilized to treat the injured leg of the animal ought to be protected from water, dirt, or other debris that the animal can come in contact with. This is often done by placing the wound or injured leg in a plastic bag when the animal enters a potentially contaminating environment, such as the outdoors. However, the bag may rip or the animal may gnaw at the bag or attempt to physically remove it by clawing at the bag, thus exposing the injured leg to the adverse elements. This may create an additional problem associated with the ingestion of the gnawed portions of the bag. Additionally, retention of the plastic bag on the leg of the animal is usually accomplished by tying the bag to the leg with string or by using rubber bands over the bag. Such methods limit the tolerability and comfort of the animal, thus increasing the probability of the animal gnawing and/or clawing and removing the bag from its injured leg. Also, a medical issue associated with decreased blood circulation may arise if the band or string is tied too tightly around the leg. To date, there is an unmet medical need to provide a covering, for an injured leg of an animal, that is resilient against adverse elements, and fosters tolerance and comfort for the animal.
There have been several attempts made to provide a boot to protect an animal's extremities. None of these describes a boot that extends beyond the intermediate flexible joint of the animal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,431 [Sinclair], U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,657 [Stafford, et al.], U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,828 [Solomon, et al.], U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,920 [Griffin], U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,704 [Fisher], U.S. Design Patent 379,251 [Mezey], U.S. Design Patent 382,378 [Stark], and U.S. Design Patent 417,530 [Darek] disclose a myriad of designs, styles, and types of dog boots, primarily for the paw and lower extremity that extend upward to only a point well below the intermediate flexible joint of the leg. Moreover, the majority of the aforementioned boots do not adequately protect the leg of the animal against the wide range of adverse elements, including water and debris.
For example, the boot disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,431 [Sinclair] includes a seam along the top of the boot. This seam may allow water penetration inside the boot, thereby affecting the wound, if the boot is immersed in water, such as walking through a puddle or stream. U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,657 [Stafford] discloses an animal boot with a tongue, a design that may also allow water to penetrate the affected area. Some boots disclosed are waterproof, however, they may be expensive to manufacture, and they do not provide protection near or above the intermediate flexible joint of the animal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,828 [Solomon, et al.] discloses an animal boot that is manufactured through a complex and potentially costly polymer dipping process. Further, none of the described boots provides an upper closure mechanism to prevent the downward infiltration of water, dirt, or debris and/or prevent physical access by the animal to the upper portion of the protective boot.
It would be beneficial to provide a protective animal boot that is water proof, relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and extends to the upper region of the extremity (above the second flexible joint) to increase the range of protection. Additionally, as dogs and cats, or other domesticated animals such as goats and sheep, or small exotic animals such as ferrets, have a tendency to remove any type of clothing or footwear, positioning a boot in the upper part of the leg prevents access by the animal to remove the boot.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to protect the injured leg of the animal by use of an oversized protective sheath or boot that prevents the animal from physically undoing of the bandages or other medical treatment devices intended the protect the wound, or from directly opening the wound. It is a further object of the invention to provide an area of protection that extends along the entire length of the animal's leg, rather than just the area around and including the paw. Moreover, it is another object of the invention to provide a closure mechanism to secure the open top end of the protective boot against the infiltration of the various adverse elements, including the animal itself from physical entry.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.